Obama transition

Despite the first half or so of CNN’s The 2000s episode on the 2008 election and the early Obama years being largely pain-free on the bias front, the liberal media’s overwhelming love for Barack Obama burst through when it hit Election Day 2008 and the two years afterward. In all, CNN swooned over the Obama election with zero objectivity, portrayed Obama as trying to be bipartisan, and subtly painted Tea Partiers as angry, irrational conspiracy theorists who ran around with signs depicting the President as the Joker or a Nazi.

Reports that charges were dropped against the alleged Rockville rapists led Univision to revert to its usual biases, with coverage that smeared conservatives and took immigration advocacy reporting to an absurd extreme.

On Wednesday, Barack Obama conducted his final press conference as president and journalists demanded accountability... from his Republican successor. While just one question was asked about Obama’s decision to pardon Chelsea Manning, there were five queries worrying about what Donald Trump will do when he’s in charge.

Following fawning network coverage of President Obama’s farewell address on Tuesday night, on Wednesday, the NBC, ABC, and CBS morning shows continued the lovefest by devoting another 16 minutes and 5 seconds of air time to the speech. That stands in stunning contrast to the paltry 55 seconds the same morning shows offered to then-President George W. Bush’s farewell address in 2009.

In an item published on Tuesday, Matt Sedensky at the Associated Press reported on what he observed in a graduate "Faith and Politics" class at Emory University immediately after and during the weeks following this year's presidential election.

Class members' immature reactions to the election's result and the reporter's injected commentary are both disturbing, but very useful. That's because one of the most under-reported stories of the past two years, in terms of general visibility to the casual news consumer, is how so many college campuses have devolved into places where so-called "safe spaces," "trigger warnings" delivered before supposedly disturbing viewpoints are presented, out-of-nowhere outrage at alleged "microagressions," and intense hostility to non-conforming opinions have all proliferated.

Some Democratic Party politicians who are searching for any and every possible reason to have a problem with President-Elect Donald Trump's cabinet appointments have latched on to the supposedly troubling fact that it thus far contains three retired generals out of 15 ultimate appointments. Naturally, their allies in the establishment press are amplifying these petty concerns.

The Associated Press's Lolita C. Baldor was a relatively early adopter, claiming a week ago, with alternating bouts of hyperventilation and hostility, that "Congress and others" are struggling with "a broader worry about an increased militarization of American policy" because of Trump's "move to pack his administration with military brass." Baldor has been an AP reporter for 11 years, covering matters relating to the Pentagon, counterterrorism and national security, so there's no excuse for her not recalling recent history which refutes her concern.

In their two-hour-long documentary, The Legacy of Barack Obama, Wednesday, CNN allowed former Obama adviser Fareed Zakaria to set his sights on Congressional Republicans as he claimed their opposition was fueled by a deep-seated racism. “That fierce, unrelenting opposition, would haunt the next eight years and what began as whispers is now discussed openly,” he pontificated as ominous music played, “Did race play a role in the brick wall of Republican resistance to Barack Obama?”

News broke Wednesday that President-Elect Donald Trump had selected Oklahoma Attorney General, and active opponent to the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt to lead that very same organization. Word of Trump’s latest pick sent liberal environmental groups into a panic along with networks CBS and NBC. “The president-elect filled more administration posts today, putting a global warming sceptic in charge of protecting the environment,” announced anchor Scott Pelley on CBS Evening News.

In a December 2 dispatch covering Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's request for a presidential pardon appearing at Page A18 in Saturday's print edition, New York Times reporter Charlie Savage insisted that President-Elect Donald Trump's 2015 campaign rally assertion that U.S. soldiers had died searching for Bergdahl after his desertion was false. Savage even claimed that allegations made by soldiers serving in Afghanistan at the time that "five to seven Americans had died searching for him ... (were) proved false."

During the campaign, the liberal news media did everything they could to prevent Donald Trump’s election, but he won anyway. Now, journalists are trashing the way Trump is handling his transition, as well as his early Cabinet picks. But eight years ago, viewers heard a very different tone coming from the media, as journalists celebrated the election of Barack Obama, cheered the “brain power” of the “team of geniuses” he was assembling for his Cabinet, and tingled over how “cool” Obama seemed as he assumed the responsibilities of office.

Hillary's campaign didn't outright hurl Bill under the bus. Even so, the former prez might be feeling a bit too close for comfort to the grimy side of a Greyhound.

Asked by Andrea Mitchell today to comment on footage of poor ol' Bill saying he would continue to give paid speeches because he's "gotta pay our bills," senior Hillary campaign official Amanda Renteria said "that's President Clinton. We are focused on her." Whatever happened to "two for the price of one?"

The mission of the Media Research Center is to create a media culture in America where truth and liberty flourish. The MRC is a research and education organization operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and contributions to the MRC are tax-deductible.